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Tyrion faces death in Game of Thrones season six trailer

The torturous wait for more Game of Thrones is almost over, as HBO has released the first trailer for the upcoming sixth season.

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The trailer is really one big tease though. A camera pans around the Hall of Faces -- but now, rather than filled with the skinned masques of the dead as used by the Faceless Men, the columns are filled with the likenesses of characters who've died in the show.

Panning over the likes of Catelyn Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, and -- at least as it appeared from the end of season five -- Jon Snow, a pivotal line for each character is heard, before the camera pans down to Tyrion Lannister's face, silent in its own chamber. A portent of doom for the popular character, played by Peter Dinklage, in the season to come? HBO's teaser seems to imply exactly that, but the famously witty imp has talked himself out of tricky situations before.

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ByJames Temperton

Although fans of the television series are no doubt excited for the show's return, readers of the source material may be less so. Winds of Winter, the next book in author George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga, is currently without a release date, even after several publication delays. Worse still, the TV show is set to "spoil" some elements of the sixth book, which Martin had once promised would be released well before the show caught up with the novels.

Martin confirmed the latest delay in January, saying of spoilers "when you ask me, 'will the show spoil the books,' all I can do is say, 'yes and no,' and mumble once again about the butterfly effect. Those pretty little butterflies have grown into mighty dragons. Some of the spoilers you may encounter in season six may not be spoilers at all.... because the show and the books have diverged, and will continue to do so."

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It's true that the TV show is a fairly distinct beast from the novels by this point, and may continue to diverge further. Also in January, HBO announced it had renewed Game of Thrones for two more seasons. With the books now wildly off-schedule -- A Song of Ice and Fire was originally planned as a trilogy -- showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are likely to draw the show to its own distinct conclusion, whenever that may be.

Game of Thrones season six premieres in the UK on 25 April at 2am. Sky Atlantic has confirmed it will be simulcasting episodes in sync with HBO in the US for impatient fans, with a more reasonable 9pm screening following on the same day.